HISTORYOFMENARD &
MASON COUNTIES, ILLINOIS1879

THOMPSON WARE McNEELY, was born at Jacksonville, Ill., Oct. 5, A. D. 1835; his father, Robert T. McNeely, a native of Kentucky, was of Irish and Scotch descent, and his mother, Ann Maria Ware, also a native of Kentucky, was of English descent; in 1839, Mr. McNeely's mother died, and soon after, he removed with his father to Menard Co.; after one year spent at Jubilee College near Peoria, and four years at Lombard University at Galesburg, Ill., Mr. McNeely graduated with the degree of A.B. at the last-named college in 1856, and the same college, in 1859, conferred upon him the degree of A.M.; he began the study of law, July, 1856, and was admitted to practice in August 1857, at Petersburg, Ill., where he has resided ever since; he attended the Law Department of Kentucky University at Louisville during the winter of 1858-59, where he graduated in March, 1859. In November, 1861, he was elected a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of Illinois from Menard and Cass Cos., in which body he served as a member; in 1868, he was elected as a Democrat as a member of Congress from the Ninth District, composed of the counties of Menard, Cass, Mason, Fulton, McDonough, Schuyler, Brown and Pike, and was reelected from the same District in 1870, serving from March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1873. In November 1872, he was married to Miss M. H. Derickson, daughter of Hon. L. L. Derickson, of Berlin, Md. After leaving Congress, Mr. McNeely resumed the practice of law. He is now the Chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee.